See also

Full agreement – and beyond

The next
stage of the licensing process is to convert the heads of agreement into a full
legal agreement.

This
will be such a complex and lengthy document that responsibility for it must be left to your legal
representatives. Only they can ensure that the final agreement is consistent
with the heads of agreement.

Do not regard the full agreement as an
opportunity to renegotiate! We can only repeat once again that the
purpose of negotiation is not to win but to reach agreement. Some of the
clauses may not be as advantageous as you wanted, but any attempt to alter what
has been agreed (other than errors identified by your legal representative) is
more likely to ruin the agreement than improve it.

Then
one day, at long last, you have your licensing agreement. Congratulations!

But
this is not the end of your involvement. You and your legal representatives
must continuously monitor the way the licensing agreement operates. You need to
ensure that you receive your royalty payments and that the licensee is making a good job of selling your
invention.

You
need to watch what competitors are doing, as some may be tempted to infringe
your IPR. Others may improve their products, requiring you to improve yours.

You
may also want to explore other ways of using your IPR to generate other
licensing opportunities - perhaps in collaboration with your first licensee, or
perhaps as an entirely independent business activity.

One way or another,
your work as the owner of valuable IPR will not be over. But successful
inventors rarely complain about that!